Victorian Turkish Baths Picture of the Month for
March 2015

John William Hall had already opened Turkish baths in the
four main cities of New Zealand—Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland, and
Dunedin—and in 1905 he moved over to Australia and opened one in Elizabeth
Street, Sydney.

Hallemphasised the bathers' privacy.
'There will be no promenading through the cooling rooms to the dressing rooms, and patrons who are enjoying the luxury of a shampoo will be equally private.'1
There were separate baths for men and women. Each had their own hot rooms and
cooling-rooms, and there were 23 dressing-rooms for women and 28 for men.

There were also roof gardens and, uniquely, pianos in the cooling-rooms—though whether this was an advantage or a disadvantage, one can only hazard a guess.

It is not known when the baths closed, but at some stage the building was demolished and a new building stands on the site today.